This invention relates to tool assemblies for preparing wiring for termination in a connector by selectively removing insulation and more particularly for preparing a flat cable for termination in a mass termination connector.
Mass termination connectors, which function to remove the insulation from and electrically terminate a plurality of conductors in response to a single stroke of an insertion tool, are coming into increasing commercial prominence because of the great savings of tedious manual operations attendant their use compared with the previous wiring method of stripping the individual wires, placing a terminal on each wire and crimping the respective terminals about the respective wires. A mass termination connector, an example of which is fully disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 909,732, typically has a housing which includes a front wall and a back wall joined by a plurality of spaced barrier walls which define an array of cavities for holding the individual metallic terminal elements. Aligned openings in the front and back walls extend from the wire-receiving face of the housing to provide entrances to the various cavities. While this housing configuration works well when discrete wires are used with the connector, an as-fabricated flat cable cannot be terminated because the insulation webs between adjacent conductors interfere with the barrier walls which terminate substantially flush with the wire-receiving face of the housing.
In order to accommodate the connector housing, openings have to be formed in the webs of insulation between adjacent conductors to receive the barrier walls. Previously this was accomplished using a hand punch; or a dieset comprising a series of punches, on the same centers as the conductors in the flat cable, was fabricated for use with a bench press. Shortcomings of such methods were that alignment of the flat cable with the punches was difficult and they were typically used for preparing a flat cable for only a daisy chain connection, where the connector is joined to the cable intermediate its ends. Where a dead end connection was required, the flat cable had to undergo a second cutting operation, e.g., by using a scissors.
Several special purpose tool assemblies adapted for use with bench presses to prepare flat cables have been proposed. One such tool assembly functions to square the end of the cable and remove flash from the cable sides so that the cable can be used with a connector having extending terminal elements which pierce the insulation webs. Another assembly functions to slit the end of a flat cable to divide the conductors into groups. Finally, another assembly slits the web adjacent the conductors and bends the conductors into loops extending from the surface of the flat cable. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,130,040; 4,046,045 and 4,130,934.